MACD Signal-Line Cross¶
What it does: Buys when MACD crosses above its signal line, sells on the opposite cross; skips flat markets. MACD compares a fast and a slow average; its signal line is a smoothed copy. This buys when MACD crosses above the signal line and sells when it crosses back below, or at the stop-loss.
Style: Momentum · Difficulty: Beginner · Risk: medium · Ready: 2 of 2 variants
When people use it: It tends to work in trending markets.
Where it struggles: It struggles in flat markets, reacts late to sharp V-turns, and the cross exit often gives back a good part of a gain.
Markets it was written for: BTC, ETH, majors. Timeframes: 4h (1h-1d).
Open it in the Strategy Library (on the Strategies page), pick a variant, adjust the settings and press Add to my strategies. It becomes your own strategy: edit, backtest or trade it like any other.
Long¶
Buys when MACD crosses above its signal line, sells on the opposite cross; skips flat markets.
Labels: Momentum, Long, Spot, Beginner, Medium
- Direction: Buy (long) · Market: spot
- Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (4h)
Entry
- IF MACD(12,26,9) crosses above MACD(12,26,9) Signal (4h)
- UNLESS ADX(14) < 20 (4h)
Exit: Indicator-Based Exit
- IF MACD(12,26,9) crosses below MACD(12,26,9) Signal (4h)
- Loss controls: Stop-loss % 5%
Settings
| Setting | Default | Editable | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| MACD fast | 12 | Yes (sets 4 fields) | The fast average inside MACD. Lower makes MACD react sooner (more crosses); higher makes it calmer. Changes both the entry and the exit cross. |
| MACD slow | 26 | Yes (sets 4 fields) | The slow average inside MACD. Lower gives more, earlier crosses; higher gives fewer, later ones. Changes both the entry and the exit cross. |
| MACD signal | 9 | Yes (sets 4 fields) | How smooth the signal line is. Lower gives more frequent crosses; higher gives fewer. Changes both the entry and the exit cross. |
| Stop-loss % | 5 | Yes | Closes the trade if the price moves this far against your entry. Tighter limits each loss but gets hit more often by normal swings; wider gives the trade more room but each losing trade costs more. If you use leverage, keep it well inside your liquidation distance. |
How it works (as shown in the app)
- MACD compares a fast and a slow average; its signal line is a smoothed copy. This buys when MACD crosses above the signal line and sells when it crosses back below, or at the stop-loss.
- It skips trades when ADX (trend strength) is below 20, meaning no clear trend.
- It tends to work in trending markets.
- It struggles in flat markets, reacts late to sharp V-turns, and the cross exit often gives back a good part of a gain.
- Built for 4-hour candles (1 hour to 1 day also work).
Short (perp)¶
Shorts when MACD crosses below its signal line, closes on the opposite cross; skips flat markets.
Labels: Momentum, Short, Futures, Medium, Backtest Only
- Direction: Sell (short) · Market: swap
- Trigger: On candle close · Main timeframe: Auto (4h)
Entry
- IF MACD(12,26,9) crosses below MACD(12,26,9) Signal (4h)
- UNLESS ADX(14) < 20 (4h)
Exit: Indicator-Based Exit
- IF MACD(12,26,9) crosses above MACD(12,26,9) Signal (4h)
- Loss controls: Stop-loss % 5%
Settings
| Setting | Default | Editable | What changing it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| MACD fast | 12 | Yes (sets 4 fields) | The fast average inside MACD. Lower makes MACD react sooner (more crosses); higher makes it calmer. Changes both the entry and the exit cross. |
| MACD slow | 26 | Yes (sets 4 fields) | The slow average inside MACD. Lower gives more, earlier crosses; higher gives fewer, later ones. Changes both the entry and the exit cross. |
| MACD signal | 9 | Yes (sets 4 fields) | How smooth the signal line is. Lower gives more frequent crosses; higher gives fewer. Changes both the entry and the exit cross. |
| Stop-loss % | 5 | Yes | Closes the trade if the price moves this far against your entry. Tighter limits each loss but gets hit more often by normal swings; wider gives the trade more room but each losing trade costs more. If you use leverage, keep it well inside your liquidation distance. |
How it works (as shown in the app)
- MACD compares a fast and a slow average; its signal line is a smoothed copy. This shorts when MACD crosses below the signal line and buys back when it crosses back above, or at the stop-loss.
- It skips trades when ADX (trend strength) is below 20, meaning no clear trend.
- It tends to work in downtrending markets.
- It struggles in flat markets, reacts late to sharp V-shaped recoveries, and the cross exit often gives back a good part of a gain.
- Built for 4-hour candles (1 hour to 1 day also work).
- Shorting means you profit if the price falls and lose if it rises.
- Suggested leverage is at most 3x. On isolated margin, at 3x the exchange closes the position (liquidation) if the price moves about 33% against you, and you lose the margin you put into it. Keep your stop well inside that.
- For now this version runs in backtests only; paper and live futures trading are coming later.
Warnings¶
- "Backtest only for now: paper and live trading of shorts are coming later.": shown on short variants. They need perpetual or futures pairs.
- Some variants suggest leverage. On isolated margin a liquidation loses the margin in that position; keep any stop well inside the liquidation distance (the Trade Builder warns you when it isn't).
- Once added, the strategy's conditions get the usual condition checks. Messages show under each condition on the entry / exit conditions screen; setting errors start with the indicator's short name (for example "MACD: Fast must be between 1 and 1000") and block saving, while the other warnings never block saving and repeat in the strategy's Entry or Exit section. See the indicator pages below for each one.
- "You already have this strategy with these settings (…). Change a setting to add another copy.": shown on the variant's page in the Strategy Library when you already added this variant with the same settings.
Good to know¶
- After you add it, the strategy keeps the library's trigger and an Auto main timeframe; you can change both in the builder. Nothing links it back to the library, except that the builder still shows the library's explanations in the info bubbles.
- Changing a setting before adding it also changes the saved name, so you can tell copies apart.
- Past results don't predict future ones. Try it in a backtest and on paper before using real money.
- Indicators used: ADX, MACD.